Kashmir: Women told to wear burqas or else...

Or else islamic terrorists will shoot at their legs, throw acid in their face or even kill them. Reuters

SRINAGAR (Reuters) - Muslim militants fighting troops in Kashmir have issued a three-day ultimatum to a college to implement a strict Islamic dress code for girls, or face the consequences.

The principal of a north Kashmir college, Muhammad Ashraf, was waylaid by masked gunmen on Wednesday. The unidentified militants gave him a three-day ultimatum to ensure the girl students in his institution don head-to-toe veils.[...]

In the early 1990s, Islamist militants began imposing their own strict version of Islam, shooting at the legs of women who did not cover themselves in a burqa, and throwing acid on their faces.

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Taliban in Kashmir?

Pakistan's secret service, the ISI, originally created the taliban in order to check growing Indian influence in Afghanistan. Now it appears that taliban are turning on Indian controlled Kashmir. Press Trust of India

New Delhi/Srinagar, Apr 8 (PTI) Union Home Ministry today sought a report from security agencies about the reports that Taliban groups may have entered into the Kashmir valley though Army denied reports to this effect.
The move comes after a wireless intercept reportedly suggested that a group of nearly 20 militants, said to be Taliban, were fighting the Army in Gurez sector of North Kashmir.

The Army headquarters informed the government that intermittent gunfight was on in the sector and two of the group had been gunned down, sources in the Home Ministry said.

The sources said the bodies retrieved from the scene of encounter showed some features similar to those belonging to North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

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Terrorists Take 5 Hostages in Kashmir

Things just keep getting worse in Kashmir. Three terrorists dressed up as police officers killed a rickshaw driver and the passenger, an Indian soldier on leave, and then barricaded themselves in a nearby home taking 5 hostages. A gun battle ensued between the three terrorists and Indian security forces, one of the terrorists was killed in the gun battle. New York Times

NEW DELHI -- Tensions in the deeply polarized Jammu and Kashmir State in northern India worsened Wednesday as suspected militants barricaded themselves in a house on the outskirts of Jammu city and held five civilians hostage, including four children.

An Indian Army spokesman, S.D. Goswami, said by telephone from Jammu that at least five people had been killed, including one of the suspected militants. Television reports from Jammu indicated that gunbattles continued through midday local time in a densely populated residential neighborhood, with soldiers battling the gunmen holed up inside a two-story house.

The hostage taking comes amid two worrying trends. Relations between India and Pakistan, rivals who both claim the Kashmir region, have steadily deteriorated in recent months and there have been competing protests by Hindu and Muslim groups inside the Indian-ruled portion of Kashmir.

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The hostage crisis began Wednesday morning, according to Mr. Goswami, when three gunmen, dressed in police uniforms, hailed a motorized rickshaw and and killed its driver and passenger _ an Indian soldier who was home on holiday. It was unclear whether the soldier was targeted.

The militants then holed up in a private house, along with a family living inside. One of the militants was killed in a gun battle with security forces who surrounded the house. Two others were believed to be still inside. An Indian soldier also died in the exchange.

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Indian Authorities Arrest 3 Kashmir Leaders

Indian authorities have arrested three Kashmi leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik. Syed Ali Geelani is a member of Jamaat-e-Islami which has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-e-Islami has been accused of having links with al Qaida. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is the chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a grassroots coalition of pro-Pakistan secessionist groups in Jammu and Kashmir.

Both leaders were scheduled to attend a rally in Srinagar's Red Square today.AFP

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) — Indian security forces arrested three senior Muslim leaders in Kashmir and enforced a strict curfew on Monday to prevent separatists from holding a pro-independence rally.

Eight people were hurt in two incidents north of the state summer capital Srinagar when troops opened fire to disperse anti-India protesters who defied the curfew, police and doctors said.

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Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who head hardline and moderate factions of the region's separatist alliance, were arrested after overnight raids on their homes in Srinagar, police said.

The two have been leading a series of large demonstrations over the past two weeks, reviving calls for independence from Indian rule.

They planned to hold a rally Monday in Srinagar's Red Square, where in 1948 India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru promised Kashmiris the right to self-determination through a referendum -- a pledge that has not been upheld.

"The two have been arrested to prevent today's rally," a police officer who asked not to be named told AFP.

State-owned media said they were being held for "instigating crowds and causing law and order problems."

Related Posts:
Riots continue in Kashmir
Tensions flaring up in Kashmir
The West isn't alone in pandering to angry muslims

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Riots Continue in Kashmir

While the riots are the result of the death of Sheik Abdul Aziz. The tension started when the provincial government transferred land to a Hindu Shrine. Muslims protested the land transfer deal and the provincial government caved to their demands.

On Monday, Sheik Abdul Aziz led a march of 100000 muslim Kahsmirs to the border with Pakistan when he was shot to death by Indian secuirty forces. Sheik Abdul Aziz and the crowd of 100000 tried to breach the border.Guardian

Riots erupted across Indian-controlled Kashmir today as Muslims mourned 15 people killed when Indian security forces fired into crowds of demonstrators yesterday.

The shootings came as thousands took to the streets to protest over the death of Sheikh Abdul Aziz, a Kashmiri separatist leader killed when police shot into a crowd of Muslims trying to march to the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir on Monday.

Unrest in the region, the worst since the 1990s, began in May when the state government handed over 100 acres of land for pilgrims to Amarnath, a Hindu shrine in the Himalayas.

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"Kashmiris will continue to agitate peacefully, and we should not give Indian oppressors any chance to use brute force," Mirwaiz Omer Farooq, the head of the separatist umbrella group the Hurriyat Conference, said today.

Demonstrations also erupted in New Delhi, Mumbai and the tourist city of Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal, as the unrest spread.

Several thousand people took to the streets of Srinagar, the region's main city, attacking police posts and calling for revenge over the deaths.

Sure sounds like 'peaceful agitation' to me.

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Tensions Flaring up in Kashmir

Tensions have been growing in Kashmir since Hindu pilgrams were refused entry to a holy shrine in Kashmir. Now with the death of Sheik Abdul Aziz, it looks like things are heating up in Kashmir. Times Online

Indian-administered Kashmir moved a large step towards all-out revolt today when police shot dead a senior separatist leader as he led a massive pro-independence march.

Sheik Abdul Aziz, a member of the Hurriyat Conference, an influential coalition of separatist parties, was killed as about 100,000 Muslim Kashmiris made an unprecedented attempt to breach the border that splits the fiercely contested region between India and Pakistan.

His death looks set to inflame some of the worst violence to hit the troubled region since the eruption of an all-out insurgency in 1989 and to give momentum to a resurgent separatist movement across the Kashmir Valley.

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Police said three others were killed and about 200 injured as security forces used tear gas and fired shots on protestors as they made their way to within about 25 miles of one of the most volatile and closely guarded frontiers in the world. Tensions were further raised by reports of firing on Indian border positions from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

Riots and running battles in Indian Kashmir with police have now claimed 16 lives over the past two months.

[...]

The current troubles were sparked in mid June. The state government rescinded a decision to gift about 100 acres of forest land to Amarnath, a Hindu cave shrine that hosts a revered stalagmite, to build shelters for pilgrims. The move, which followed violent demonstrations from Kashmir’s Muslim majority, triggered counter-protests from Hindus.

Passions continue to run high among extremists on both sides.

Tarun Vijay, a right wing Hindu commentator, said: “The whole issue was created by separatist leaders who would like to stop the Hindu pilgrimage? The real motive is a complete Islamisation (sic) of the valley.” The fight for independence by Kashmiri Islamic groups has claimed more than 40,000 lives over the past 19 years, according to the Indian Army. Separatists put the toll at more than double that figure.

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The West isn't Alone in Pandering to Angry Muslims

The Indian government of Kashmir decided to transfer land to Hindu shrine in India's only Muslim-majority state. As a result, hundreds of muslims started to protest the land transfer and the government caved in and cancelled the land transfer. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India's main opposition party, has called for a nation wide strike today to protest. The Christian Science Monitor

Srinagar, India - Jubilant Kashmiris lit bonfires and set off fireworks in the streets on Wednesday to celebrate a rare triumph in their struggle against Indian rule. For nine days, Muslim leaders have staged the biggest protests seen in Jammu and Kashmir since the early 1990s against a government plan to transfer land to a Hindu shrine in India's only Muslim-majority state. Hundreds of people were wounded and at least four killed while protesting. On Tuesday, the government bowed to the pressure and voted to scrap the plan. But while some parts of the state saw rejoicing, the government's decision stoked tensions elsewhere.

In Hindu-majority Jammu, the revocation prompted new rallies, with activists chanting that the government had pandered to Muslims. In the national capital, New Delhi, India's main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), called for a nationwide strike on July 3. It warned that the government's decision would unleash a tide of Hindu nationalist anger – an indication that the party is likely to agitate over the issue ahead of general elections scheduled to be held in May.

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Back in Srinagar, separatist leaders anxious to maintain the momentum of recent days said they were preparing for a new round of protests to demand independence – their ultimate goal.

"We will be happy when we are free from India," says Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a hard-line Muslim separatist leader. He indicated that the next cause independence activists would seize upon was the occupation of large swaths of land in Kashmir by the Indian Army.

Mr. Geelani's sentiments are shared by many. Public feeling in the state certainly runs high as 90 percent of the population in Srinagar believes that Kashmir should be independent of either India or Pakistan, according to a poll in an Indian newspaper.

[...]

Kashmir's latest controversy came about when the state government – led by the Congress Party that rules at India's center – said that it would transfer 99 acres of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, which manages a shrine in a cave containing an icicle believed to be an incarnation of the god Shiva. The board was to build huts and toilets for the thousands of Hindu tourists that visit each year.

Independence leaders say the sanctity of the cave is overplayed by Indian politicians and that the plan to build accommodations for pilgrims was in fact a ploy to settle large numbers of Hindus in a Muslim-majority area, thereby altering the area's demographics. Indian officials have dismissed the allegations.

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Pakistani Rock Band Rocks Out in Indian Kashmir

A Pakistani rock played a concert in Indian Kashmir. The United Jihad Council had threatened Pakistan to stop the band from playing. Despite the threats up to 4000 students showed up to the rock concert. Voice of America

I wonder what these guys sound like.

A popular Pakistani rock band Sunday mesmerised a big audience in conflict-ridden Indian administered Kashmir, where concerts and Pakistani delegates are a rarity. Shahnawaz Khan reports for VOA.

The young in the audience danced and clapped to the tunes of Junoon, a top Pakistani Sufi rock band performing on the banks of Dal Lake in Indian administered Kashmir.

The band's performance in summer capital Srinagar was part of inauguration ceremony of the Institute of Kashmir Studies, of the University of Kashmir. The event was organized by South Asia Foundation, a non-government organization promoting regional cooperation in south Asia.

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Syed Salahudin, who heads United Jehad Council, the largest militant alliance fighting for the independence of Kashimr, had urged Pakistan to stop the band from holding its concert in Srinagar. He had told a local news agency the event sends the wrong signal that the struggle for Kashmir's independence is over.

Others, including Inam ul Rehman, a multimedia professional, agreed, saying this was a political, not a cultural event.

"I would have liked to go there to watch the musical show, because it was a dream to see Junoon performing in Kashmir," Inam said. "But because India made it a political show, so it was not feasible to go there. By portraying musical shows as returning of normalcy, India is trying to distort ground realities in Kashmir."

The five-member band, which has a huge fan base in South Asia, performed hit songs from its debut album and its lead singer, Salman Ahmed, sang Sufe songs in Urdu. He told the audience he wanted to get to Kashmir 10 years back, but was denied the permission.

The audience of some 4,000 people braving stringent security measures was made up largely of student invitees.

Many in the audience did not want their music mixed with politics. Gazala Ahmad, a student at the University of Kashmir, was one of them.

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